How to analyze your brand exposure in social media

Analyzing your brand exposure in social media can be complicated. Blogs and Twitter and forums are just a few of the seemingly endless places online where a brand can be measured. Which ones matter? Which can be pushed off to the side? How do you decide on the right metrics to use?

The key to success in this task is to determine what you need to measure. You can’t measure everything, so you’ve got to pick the best metrics for your goals. It can be a lot of work to decide which metrics to gather, but once you do, collecting the data becomes the easy part.

Here are four steps and a few tips that will simplify the process and help you focus on what matters most.

Step 1: List your goals

Make a list of general and specific goals that you have for your company or department. For instance:

Start with general goals and work your way to specific ones. Try to be as precise as possible; it will be easier to pick metrics (in Step 3, below) for more specific goals.

Step 2: List your media and choose which to measure

Make a list of all the possible media (blogs, podcasts, forums, etc.) that could mention your brand. It helps to make as big and wide a list as possible because it forces you to think of possibilities you might otherwise have overlooked.